Container



W. H. INMAN April 9, 1935.

CONTAINER Filed April 1, 1933 Patented Apr. 9, 1935 UNITED STATES 1,996,997 CONTAINER William H. Inman, Newark, N. Y., asslgnor to Bloomer Bros. Company, Newark, N. Y., a corporation of New York 2 Claims.

This invention deals with a container or carton. An object of the invention is to provide a container of non-circular shape with rounded corners, which may be formed comparatively inexpensively from sheet material such as cardboard or the like.

Another object is to provide such a container so designed and constructed that it may be knocked down into substantially flat condition, or erected in normal condition for use, as desired.

Another object is the provision of such a container which may be formed economically from a relatively small quantity of sheet material, and yet which is sufliciently strong and rigid for the purposes for which it is intended.

A still further object is the provision of such a container in which the closure parts or ends assist in holding the container in erected position, and in which the closure parts or ends are securely fastened and held in place.

To these and other ends the invention resides in certain improvements and'icombinations of parts, all as will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claims at the end of the specification.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is an end view of a container constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the same;

Fig. 3 is a partial side view on a slightly larger scale than Fig. 2, illustrating-one of the locking tabs in upstanding position ready to be folded over and interlocked with a side of the container;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view through one end of the container taken substantially on the line 44 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a section substantially on the line 5 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 6 is a plan of a blank of sheet material but and scored so that it may be conveniently formed into a container of the shape shown in Figs. 1

Application April 1, 1933, Serial No. 663,990

presents no sharp corners. Preferably the body is formed from a single piece or blank of sheet material such as that indicated by the numeral Illa in Fig. 6. The main body portion of such a blank may be formed into a loop with its opposite edges overlapping and secured to each other by glue or the like. After the blank has thus been formed into a loop, it may be shaped to the desired shape and held in this shape by means of the closure parts or ends to be described later, 10'

or it may be knocked down into a substantially flat condition by folding the looped body along the two score lines [2 .and [3, which are so placed that the length of material between the two score lines is substantially the same on one side of a 15 plane passing through the two lines as on the other side of such a plane.

Closure parts or ends are provided, preferably set inwardly from the end edges of the body so that the edges of the ends engage the interior g0 surfaces of the body and assist in holding the body in the desired cross sectional shape. The two ends of the carton may be of similar construction, each comprising preferably only a single thickness of sheet material, indicated at l5.

When the closure parts 15 are designed to occupy a. position set slightly inwardly from the ends of the carton, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, then the carton body preferably is provided with a score line l6 extending around the body in the 3 plane of each end, the score line being formed to provide a slight depression on the interior of the body so that the edges of the end l5 may engagein this score line as shown in Fig. 5, thus assisting in retaining the member l5 properly in place in its intended plane.

Additional means are preferably also provided for holding the ends or closure partf and such additional means preferably connects each end to each of the sides of the carton. For instance, the 4 end parts I5 are preferably formed integrally from the same piece of sheet material Ina which forms the carton body, one side of each end part being connected to one side of the carton body by means of a strip or neck IT which, in effect, forms a hinge for the end part. When the closure is in normal closed position, the strip l1 extends inwardly from the edge of one side In of the body to an edge of the end member IS. The other sides of the end members have, tongues preferably formed integrally from the same sheet material, each tongue having, for example, a portion ll adapted to extend outwardly from the end member to the edge of the associated side of the carton, the tongue then being bent along the score line I! so as to extend around the edge and hav-- ing a portion 20 to run along the exterior of the side of the container and adapted to be interlocked therewith by any suitable means. For example, the side of the container may have a circumferential slit 2| intersected by two short longitudinal slits 22, the three slits together forming an opening through which -the interlocking end 23 of the tongue may be inserted as shown in Fig. 4, and which is adapted to retain this interlocking end of the tongue until it is forcibly removed, in a manner well understood by those skilled in the art. It is to be noted also that the tongues l1 and l8--20 serve to some extent to hold the sides of the container against the peripheries of the ends l and tend to prevent the sides from bulging outwardly between the rounded corners.

From the foregoing description, it will be readily apparent that there has been provided a simple carton or container having materially rounded edges, which container has ends which strengthen the container and assist in retaining it in the desired cross sectional shape. The container may be quickly knocked down to a flat condition even after the ends of the blank have been pasted together, and may be quickly erected when desired. The entire container including the ends and the interlocking means for holding the ends in position, may be and preferably is formed from a. single piece of suitable fibrous sheet material such as card stock, cardboard, o the like. v

While one embodiment of the invention has been disclosed, it is to be understood that the inventive idea may be carried out in a number of ways. This application is therefore not to be limited to the precise details described, but is intended to cover all variations and modifications thereof falling within the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A container of fibrous sheet material formed to provide a body portion of generally triangular cross section with rounded comers, slits in certain sides of said body portion, a closure member extending across the interior of said body portion in a plane offset inwardly from the end edges of said sides, and tongues secured to said closure member and extending thence around the end edgesof certain of said sides and externally along said sides to said slits and being interlocked with said slits.

2. A container of fibrous sheet material formed to provide a body portion having a plurality of sides and rounded comers, said body portion being capable of being knocked down to a substantially flat condition, a closure member capable of being extended across said body portion inwardly from an end thereof, when said body portion is erected, retaining members secured to said closure member to extend externally along certain of said sides, and means for interlocking said retaining members with said sides.

WILLIAM H. INMAN. 

